The Right Reverend '''Alexander (Golitzin)''' is '''[[Bishop]] of Toledo''' and the [[Bulgarian Diocese (OCA)|Bulgarian Diocese]], and is currently ''locum tenens'' of the [[Diocese of the Midwest (OCA)|Diocese of the Midwest]].

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[[Image:Fr.-Golitzin-1.jpg|thumb|Description]]

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Bishop Alexander is the second Bishop of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese ([[OCA]]). He succeeded His Eminence, the late Archbishop Kirill [Yonchev]. Archbishop Kirill had overseen the diocese from 1964 to 2007; in 1976, Archbishop Kirill brought the diocese under the omophorion of the Orthodox Church in America.

== Life ==

== Life ==

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A descendent of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galitzine Galitzine/Golitzin princely family], Alexander Golitzin was born in 1948. He went on to study at University of California Berkeley, receiving a BA in English, before earning his M.Div. at [[St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)|St. Vladimir's Seminary]] in Crestwood, New York. He later went on to earn the D.Phil. in Theology at Oxford University in 1980, writing his dissertation on [[Dionysius the Areopagite]] under the direction of Bishop [[Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia]]. In the final years of his doctoral studies, he spent time on Mt. Athos, at Simonos Petras monastery, where he became a disciple of [Elder Aimilianos][http://orthodoxwiki.org/Aimilianos_%28Vafeidis%29], and eventually a monk.

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Igumen Alexander (b. 1948) is a patrisctics scholar and Professor of Theology at Marquete University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned his M.Div. at St Vladimir's Seminary in Crestwood, New York, and his D.Phil. in Theology at Oxford University (1980). He wrote his dissertation on Dionysius the Areopagite under the direction of Bishop [[Kallistos Ware]]. Father Alexander's research concerns the beginnings of the mystical and ascetical traditions of the Christian East.

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== Teaching and Scholarship ==

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Alexander Golitzin is a noted scholar. He contributed, together with Fr. Michael Prokurat, to the establishment of an Orthodox scholarly presence in Berkeley, CA (now the [[Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute]]). From 1989 until 2012 he taught [[Patristics]] at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and eventually full Professor. His research concerns the beginnings of Christian mystical and ascetical traditions, and their subsequent developments in the Greek- and Syriac-speaking East, with a particular interest in continuities and parallels with, respectively, Second Temple Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism. His work on the Christian ascetical and mystical tradition attracted a number of doctoral students from Russia, Romania, and Serbia, with whom he began the scholarly project known as the Theophaneia School[http://www.amazon.com/Theophaneia-School-Scrinium-Eccl%C3%82%C2%82siastique-Eccl%C2%82siastique/dp/1607240831#reader_1607240831].

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== Pastoral Work ==

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While in California, Fr. Alexander was active in missionary work. In Milwaukee, he assisted the Orthodox Christian Fellowship at Marquette University, and was attached to Ss. Cyril & Methodius Orthodox Church[http://oca.org/parishes/oca-mw-mkescm]. He preached, taught, heard confessions, and assisted in the liturgical and pastoral work. For several years he also served major services at the [St. John Chrysostom monastery][http://www.hellenicheartbeat.com/monastery/] in Kenosha, WI.

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On [[October 4]], 2011, the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America elected Archimandrite Alexander to the vacant See of Toledo and the [[Bulgarian Diocese (OCA)|Bulgarian Diocese]]. Archimandrite Alexander was nominated for the vacant see at the diocese’s Fifth Congress-Sobor held in Toledo, OH on Saturday, [[June 9]], 2011. On Saturday, [[May 5]], 2012 he was consecrated Bishop of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese during a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at Saint George Orthodox Cathedral in Rossford, OH.

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In his address prior to the ordination, Bishop-elect Alexander said:

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“When standing before the holy altar at the anaphora, the bishop images forth the one and unique High Priest—Christ—Who acts through His celebrant. While it is true that our Lord Jesus is true God and true King, it is also true that He did not come to us, His creatures, with the pomp and splendor of the King, attended by the legions of heaven, but rather in humility He emptied Himself and was found in the likeness of a servant. These are very different images: the first set revelatory of the splendor of heaven, and the second of the humility, long-suffering, and charity of our Lord’s life and ministry. … I must keep this difference firmly in mind throughout my life as bishop, by which I mean the glory of the liturgical iconography should have no place in my office and day-to-day demeanor. My actions, my patterns of speech, my service in short, is to be determined by the example given us by God the Word Himself.”[http://oca.org/news/headline-news/archimandrite-alexander-golitzin-consecrated-bishop-of-toledo-and-the-bulga]

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On April 15, 2013, the Holy Synod of the OCA named Bishop Alexander as the bishop ''locum tenens'' of the [[Diocese of the Midwest (OCA)|Diocese of the Midwest]].

*“Dionysius Areopagites in the Works of Saint Gregory Palams: On the Question of a ‘Christological Corrective’ and Related Matters,” Saint Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 46 (2002): 163-90.

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*“The Demons Suggest an Illusion of God’s Glory in a Form: Controversy Over the Divine Body and Vision of Glory in Some Late Fourth, Early Fifth Century Monastic Literature,” Studia Monastica 44 (2002): 13-44.

*“The Place of the Presence of God: Aphrahat of Persia’s Portrait of the Christian Holy Man,” ΣΥΝΑΞΙΣ ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΙΑΣ: Studies in Honor of Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonos Petras, Mount Athos (Athens: Indiktos, 2003), 391-447.

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*“The Image and Glory of God in Jacob of Serug’s Homily, On That Chariot That Ezekiel the Prophet Saw,” Saint Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 46 (2003): 323-364.

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*“‘Suddenly, Christ’: The Place of Negative Theology in the Mystagogy of Dionysius Areopagites,” Mystics: Presence and Aporia (ed. Michael Kessler and Christian Shepherd; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), 8-37.

*“Making the Inside like the Outside: Toward a Monastic Sitz im Leben for the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel,” To Train His Soul in Books: Syriac Asceticism in Early Christianity (ed. Robin Darling Young and Monica J. Blanchard; CUA Press, 2011). An earlier version of this article is available [http://www.mu.edu/maqom/daniel.html].

Revision as of 20:46, May 5, 2013

Bishop Alexander is the second Bishop of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese (OCA). He succeeded His Eminence, the late Archbishop Kirill [Yonchev]. Archbishop Kirill had overseen the diocese from 1964 to 2007; in 1976, Archbishop Kirill brought the diocese under the omophorion of the Orthodox Church in America.

Contents

Life

A descendent of the Galitzine/Golitzin princely family, Alexander Golitzin was born in 1948. He went on to study at University of California Berkeley, receiving a BA in English, before earning his M.Div. at St. Vladimir's Seminary in Crestwood, New York. He later went on to earn the D.Phil. in Theology at Oxford University in 1980, writing his dissertation on Dionysius the Areopagite under the direction of Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia. In the final years of his doctoral studies, he spent time on Mt. Athos, at Simonos Petras monastery, where he became a disciple of [Elder Aimilianos][1], and eventually a monk.

Teaching and Scholarship

Alexander Golitzin is a noted scholar. He contributed, together with Fr. Michael Prokurat, to the establishment of an Orthodox scholarly presence in Berkeley, CA (now the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute). From 1989 until 2012 he taught Patristics at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and eventually full Professor. His research concerns the beginnings of Christian mystical and ascetical traditions, and their subsequent developments in the Greek- and Syriac-speaking East, with a particular interest in continuities and parallels with, respectively, Second Temple Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism. His work on the Christian ascetical and mystical tradition attracted a number of doctoral students from Russia, Romania, and Serbia, with whom he began the scholarly project known as the Theophaneia School[2].

Pastoral Work

While in California, Fr. Alexander was active in missionary work. In Milwaukee, he assisted the Orthodox Christian Fellowship at Marquette University, and was attached to Ss. Cyril & Methodius Orthodox Church[3]. He preached, taught, heard confessions, and assisted in the liturgical and pastoral work. For several years he also served major services at the [St. John Chrysostom monastery][4] in Kenosha, WI.

On October 4, 2011, the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America elected Archimandrite Alexander to the vacant See of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese. Archimandrite Alexander was nominated for the vacant see at the diocese’s Fifth Congress-Sobor held in Toledo, OH on Saturday, June 9, 2011. On Saturday, May 5, 2012 he was consecrated Bishop of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese during a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at Saint George Orthodox Cathedral in Rossford, OH.

In his address prior to the ordination, Bishop-elect Alexander said:
“When standing before the holy altar at the anaphora, the bishop images forth the one and unique High Priest—Christ—Who acts through His celebrant. While it is true that our Lord Jesus is true God and true King, it is also true that He did not come to us, His creatures, with the pomp and splendor of the King, attended by the legions of heaven, but rather in humility He emptied Himself and was found in the likeness of a servant. These are very different images: the first set revelatory of the splendor of heaven, and the second of the humility, long-suffering, and charity of our Lord’s life and ministry. … I must keep this difference firmly in mind throughout my life as bishop, by which I mean the glory of the liturgical iconography should have no place in my office and day-to-day demeanor. My actions, my patterns of speech, my service in short, is to be determined by the example given us by God the Word Himself.”[5]

On April 15, 2013, the Holy Synod of the OCA named Bishop Alexander as the bishop locum tenens of the Diocese of the Midwest.

“Dionysius Areopagites in the Works of Saint Gregory Palams: On the Question of a ‘Christological Corrective’ and Related Matters,” Saint Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 46 (2002): 163-90.

“The Demons Suggest an Illusion of God’s Glory in a Form: Controversy Over the Divine Body and Vision of Glory in Some Late Fourth, Early Fifth Century Monastic Literature,” Studia Monastica 44 (2002): 13-44.

“The Place of the Presence of God: Aphrahat of Persia’s Portrait of the Christian Holy Man,” ΣΥΝΑΞΙΣ ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΙΑΣ: Studies in Honor of Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonos Petras, Mount Athos (Athens: Indiktos, 2003), 391-447.

“The Image and Glory of God in Jacob of Serug’s Homily, On That Chariot That Ezekiel the Prophet Saw,” Saint Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 46 (2003): 323-364.

“‘Suddenly, Christ’: The Place of Negative Theology in the Mystagogy of Dionysius Areopagites,” Mystics: Presence and Aporia (ed. Michael Kessler and Christian Shepherd; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), 8-37.

“Making the Inside like the Outside: Toward a Monastic Sitz im Leben for the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel,” To Train His Soul in Books: Syriac Asceticism in Early Christianity (ed. Robin Darling Young and Monica J. Blanchard; CUA Press, 2011). An earlier version of this article is available [7].